nothing is easy, nothing is sacred
by leonhartous
Summary: After all, Tooth is not simply the Guardian of Memories. Tooth is memories.


**Title:** nothing is easy, nothing is sacred  
**Fandom:** Rise of the Guardians  
**Characters:** Toothiana, Jack Frost and a mention of The Man in the Moon  
**Genre:** General/Romance  
**Warnings: **English might suck, beware of that. I betaed this myself, so yeah… Beware of rusty and rushed writing too. This was supposed to make sense. This was also posted at my tumblr blog.

For teensophie-draws, since she did a request of mine so kindly

Title comes from a verse of the song "Only The Young" by Brandon Flowers

* * *

_nothing is easy, nothing is sacred_

Tooth always remembers.

Sometimes – when there are not many teeth to collect or fairies to guide, some very rare occurrences – she likes to sit alone on one of the palace's towers and just think to herself, her only company being the lonely glow of the moon and the stars. Think; remember.

- x -

One of the fairy queen's most beloved feature is her own memory. Toothiana can remember the bright colors and smells of the place she was born with the same intensity and detail as she can see her home burning along with her parents. A cursed blessing, some would dare to say. She can recollect every word said, every action undone, everything from these hundred years she has spent in this word. And from the lives spent in other times too.

After all, Tooth is not simply the Guardian of Memories. Tooth _is_ memories.

Maybe knowing about the past was a small gift that came along with protecting other people's precious memories. When the fairy became a guardian, she had a kind of vision – and it was as quick as summer rain, as long as the hands of time -, all the lives she had before. All the happiness and all the hurt coming back and shattering the small of her heart, that was writhing and beating like crazy inside her chest.

In some of them she was a woman, others a man and sometimes even a bird or other wild thing. She was _Tooth_ in all of those lives and, at the same time, she was _not_.

She was a warrior, a peasant and a tyrant. So many things she had done right, so many done wrong. So much still left to learn. Toothiana had been born and reborn so many times she could barely count, every time there were different details, different roles she had to play, different places she resided.

There was just this one constant thing. _Person_.

She wondered how she knew. She always knew it was him. Or her, or it.

Because, just like herself, he would be born and reborn in many – many – different forms. But it was always the same; all it took was a single glance. A single glance and she was falling in love again, just like the other countless times they had met before. Her head in the clouds, heart beating steadfast on her sleeve. That was the only fact that never changed and, the truth is, Tooth wouldn't change it even if she could.

Because even when he didn't love her back, or the myriad times he loved her in many different ways besides as a lover, it was worth it. That person never failed to lighten up her world with his brilliance and soft words. It didn't matter if they were born in a rough, uncaring place or at the most beautiful and prosperous land. She would always smile as long as he was by her side.

That is why, there was always that fear. _What if we don't meet this time?_

Even if they were always reincarnated together, sometimes they didn't find each other. Lost, lost among so many people and so many places around this small world. Times and lives she dreaded gratefully, Toothiana hated to admit. She preferred the instances where he didn't love her at all or where he had to kill her, sadness lingering like a ghost inside his eyes. How selfish could she be?

- x -

The queen remembers. When she had spent so many years as a guardian – so many she could barely imagine not being one – and not a single sign of that person was at sight, she remembers thinking to herself. A silent, unwanted tear slipping out of the corner of her eye.

_What if I never meet you again?_

It scared her. After all, this time Tooth was stuck, living an everlasting _today_. Eternal life had its bad side, it seemed. She would never die; she would never be reborn. They would never see each other again.

"Oh, stop crying, will you?" Tooth had told herself at that moment, small hands brushing silver tears away. "Maybe it's better like this."

Because he was always patient, always adoring of her strange – unique - ways. It was almost as if he was trying to make up for every time they didn't find each other. She didn't want to hold him down. And, with that kind of thought accompanying her, the fairy kept on ensuring her duties for another hundred years.

Tooth always did her best to ignore the hole that was devouring her chest.

That is, until one night. On those days of old when she still collected teeth by herself, hands working fast on replacing shiny teeth with a horde of small gifts. The fairy queen never failed, never woke any child with her silent ways, never disappointed any of her believers.

So, it was quite the surprise when on a fated night a small hand lightly grasped her wrist before she could leave.

Turning slowly – praying, praying that the little boy was still sleeping – Tooth saw a pair of deep brown eyes staring marveled at her, a small sigh escaping the boy's mouth.

And just like _every other time_, all it took was a glance, a lock of eyes. Just a look, and her heart fluttered.

"Stay." He pleaded, an adorable pout within his lips.

"You need to sleep, sweetheart." And all Tooth wanted at that time was stay, stay by his side forever. But she knew she couldn't, so she did what was right. The fairy carefully tucked him in his bed again, placing a kiss – a delicate, fragile thing filled with emotion - on his forehead, leaving just when she was sure he was asleep.

"Will I ever see you again?" His voice was sleepy, mind already filled with Sandy's wonderful dreams.

Toothiana hesitated a bit before answering, heartfelt and with a pang of sadness.

"Maybe some other time, dear." Their stars couldn't be farther apart. "Maybe some other time…"

And she left, silently and bathed by moonlight.

- x -

It's been centuries since that night. Too many days and turns of the clock, but it felt like yesterday when she thought about it. The concept of time looses its value when you are stuck between today and tomorrow, she guessed. Tooth sighed and looked at the dark sky, staring intently at the moon.

"I guess you always know, huh?" The fairy smiled.

"Who knows what?" A curious voice startled her, distancing her mind from her wandering thoughts.

"Jack! You scared me!" Tooth placed her small hands on her chest, her ribcage barely containing her astonished heart. "Don't appear out of nowhere!"

"Sorry, Tooth. Winter season is over so I thought about visiting you for a bit." Jack laughed sheepishly. "So, were you talking with old man Moon?"

"Sort of." She giggled at the nickname. "I guess I'm just appreciating the view, though." And she turned her lilac eyes back to the night sky, stars shinning like small diamonds.

"You sure have a nice view from here." The boy said before siting down by her side, the northern wind brushing against them and making this soothing sound across the palace's walls. "I wonder how he knows things. I mean; he's not even down here."

"Oh, he just does." Tooth had this knowing, wise smile. "That's what matters."

"Guess you're right." Jack's blue eyes returned to the sky, a strange sense of peace inside of them.

Blue eyes that once were brown.

He never remembers. Every time they come back, it's like his mind was reset. No memory of the joy or tears shed on past lives. She carried that weight alone. But Tooth didn't really mind that. He – Jack, so many other names, always _beloved_ – always made her smile, always brought her happiness with his wayward and unusual ways. It pained and marveled her to know that she would never be able to shine as brilliantly as him. That was why it was only fair that she was the one to chase him, in this world where nothing is easy, nothing is sacred and in so many others.

Through one, ten, one thousand lifetimes until he falls in love with her again.

Tooth reached for Jack's hand, warmth enclosing cold fingers. When he lightly squeezes her hand back, she knows that theirs stars couldn't be more aligned this time.

The moon was shinning brightly – and maybe, just maybe – there was a smile on its surface.

**[**_it's infinite._**]**

* * *

First rainbow snowcone fic ever, It's sort of weird to ship stuff so hard in a kid's movie. I sort of feel guilty, _sort of_.

xoxo

shizu.


End file.
